Game 15: Warriors 102, New Orleans 101

NEW ORLEANS – With Andrew Bogut cheering and Tweeting from a nearby hotel, his understudy made many of the big plays in the Warriors’ 102-101 victory Tuesday night over the Pelicans.

Bogut was serving a one-game suspension for his part in Saturday’s altercation with Portland, so the Warriors turned to 18-season pro Jermaine O’Neal, who had season highs with 18 points and eight rebounds.

Playing in his first game back from a four-game hiatus because of a right knee and groin injury, O’Neal looked fresh. He had 10 first-half points and then came up big down the stretch for a Warriors’ team that had recently struggled to close games.

With the Warriors’ offense grinding to a halt once again, they turned to O’Neal. He made a turnaround jumper over Jrue Holiday, and then Klay Thompson knocked down a corner three-pointer to give the Warriors a 98-93 with 3:09 remaining. But the Pelicans didn’t go away easily.

Holiday made a three-pointer and Anthony Davis completed an old-fashioned three-point play sandwiched around a pair of free throws by David Lee as New Orleans trimmed the deficit to 100-99 with 2:25 remaining.

Once again, the Warriors went to O’Neal, who made a hook shot for a three-point lead with 2:10 left. Davis had a putback slam that made it 102-101 with 47 seconds on the clock, but Eric Gordon’s three-pointer circled out in the game’s final seconds, and the Warriors managed to win without Bogut.

“Decisions like this are made all of the time,” Warriors head coach Mark Jackson said of Bogut’s suspension. “We don’t have to agree with them. There is no sense in us whining and complaining now. It just doesn’t match.”

As the coach predicted, however, the Warriors would find guys to step it up in Bogut’s absence and with four players missing because of injury. The Warriors (9-6) ended a three-game skid behind role players, like Draymond Green, who had seven points, three steals and three blocked shots, and Nemanja Nedovic, who played some key fourth-quarter minutes and drew a charge.

It couldn’t have come at a better time for the Warriors, who missed an opportunity by going 4-3 during a stretch that included five of seven games at home, and just opened up a span during which they’ll play seven of eight games on the road.

The Pelicans (6-8), who have lost two in a row after a three-game winning streak, got a team-high 21 points from Ryan Anderson. Holiday had 17, and Gordon added 16.

The Warriors closed the first quarter on an 11-0 run to grab a 28-18 lead. It marked their seventh double-digit lead at the end of a first quarter this season.

Leading a bench unit that played tenacious defense, Draymond Green had three blocked shots and two steals in the quarter’s final 2:53. New Orleans went without a bucket for the first quarter’s closing 3:31.

The Pelicans four times trimmed the deficit to six points in the second quarter, including when Tyreke Evans swooped in for a layup that made it 33-27 with 9:13 remaining. The Warriors responded with a 12-3 run to get some breathing room that they would end up needing, because the Pelicans were solid for the half’s final three minutes in keeping the game within single digits.

The Warriors led by as many as 15 points, but they let Gordon get it going in the third quarter. He had an assist and then scored six straight points as the Pelicans took a 68-65 lead with 4:43 left in the third quarter. All told, he had eight points and four assists in the quarter as New Orleans went into the fourth quarter with a 77-76 advantage.